Elon Musk's $1 Million Swing Gift Offer Says It Is 'Deeply Concerning'

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced he will donate $1 million (£766,000) a day to a registered voter in key swing states until the US presidential election on November 5.

The winner will be chosen at random from those who sign a pro-Constitution petition from Mr. Musk's AmericaPAC campaign group, which he founded to support Republican nominee Donald Trump's return to the White House.

The first lottery-style check was given away Saturday night to a surprised attendee at a civic event in Pennsylvania. Another check was handed out on Sunday.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who supports Kamala Harris, called Mr. Musk's strategy “deeply troubling.”

Shapiro told NBC News' “Meet the Press” that law enforcement may want to look into the payments.

The contest is open to voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina. all major battleground states That will ultimately determine the election to the White House.

Voting law expert Rick Hasen wrote on his personal blog on voting rights that he considered Mr. Musk's offer to be “clearly illegal.”

Federal law requires anyone who “pays, offers to pay, or accepts payment to register to vote or to vote” faces a $10,000 fine or five years in prison.

Although Mr. Musk is technically asking voters to sign a form, Mr. Hasen questioned the intent behind the strategy.

“Who can sign the petitions? Only registered voters in swing states, which makes them illegal,” said Mr. Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law.

Those who sign the petition, which commits to supporting free speech and gun rights, must provide their contact information so that AmericaPAC may contact them about their vote.

Both Mr. Musk and AmericaPAC have been contacted for comment.

Campaigns and political action committees rely on tactics such as signing petitions, survey requests, or purchasing merchandise to build extensive databases of voter information. This data can then be used more precisely to target voters or raise money from supporters who are already on board.

In Pennsylvania, Mr. Musk is giving voters $100 for signing the petition, plus another $100 for each person they recommend who signs. Voters in other battleground states receive $47 per recommendation.

But the strategy could be covered by a loophole in US election law, as no one is directly paid to vote – although money is injected into a process that could identify likely Trump voters.

In the United States, it is illegal to make payments to encourage people to vote – not just for a specific candidate, but simply to vote.

The rule prompted ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's to give its product free to everyone on Election Day 2008, when it had originally planned to sell it only to those with an “I Voted” sticker.

During his campaign on Sunday, Mr Trump was asked about Mr Musk's giveaway.

“I didn’t follow that,” he said, adding that he spoke to Mr. Musk often and was a “friend.”

The founder of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly Twitter, has emerged as a major Trump supporter.

Mr. Musk founded AmericaPAC in July with the aim of supporting the former president's campaign.

So far he has donated $75m (£57.5m) to the group, which has quickly become a central player in Trump's campaign.

The Trump campaign relies heavily on outside groups like AmericaPAC to turn out voters.

A statement on the group's website said: “AmericaPAC was founded to support these key values: secure borders, secure cities, sensible spending, fair justice system, free speech, right to self-protection.”

Mr. Musk said he wanted to get “over a million, maybe two million voters in the battleground states to sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendments.”

“I think it sends a critical message to our elected leaders,” he added.

According to US business magazine Forbes, Mr Musk is currently the richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of $248 billion (£191 billion).